You are here

Randleman’s Freeze earns national award

GREENSBORO — John Mann Freeze, president and CEO of Commonwealth Hosiery Mills in Randleman and former chair of the Randolph County Partnership for Children, has been honored with the 2013 Ashley O. Thrift Volunteer Service Award.

Freeze was recognized for his leadership, his mission for quality early learning programs for young children and his dedication to the partnership. In addition to the award, a contribution of $1,000 was made in his honor to the Randolph County partnership.

He was honored at a celebration lunch held Thursday in Greensboro as the finale for this week’s National Smart Start Conference.

In nominating Freeze, the Rev. Dana Bunn of First United Methodist Church of Randleman said, “From the first time I talked with John Mann Freeze over breakfast at the Randleman Cafe, I heard and felt right away his heart and commitment for children.

“His compassion and drive and energy to build on a strong educational foundation for young children in our Randolph County is contagious,” Bunn said.

Pauline McKee, executive director of the Randolph partnership, said, “During his tenure on the board and as chair, John M. Freeze focused on sustainability and spearheaded the creation of the endowment, a capital campaign, the launching of the Gala and created an organizational culture which embraced Jim Collins’ Good to Great framework. Good programs for children were not okay, they needed to be ‘Great’.”

She also said, “Equally important, when he saw the need in Randleman for quality child care, he worked behind the scenes for five years. His efforts led to the construction and opening of a new $1.5 million Five-Star center. His contributions are numerous and quiet. He asks for no recognition.

“Recently a child care director shared with me that when her center received five stars, she arrived at her office only to find it filled with freshly cut roses from someone’s garden — they were from John Freeze.”

The Ashley O. Thrift Volunteer Award was established in 2009 to honor the longtime Smart Start leader and early childhood advocate who has been part of Smart Start since its inception, first serving as board chair of the local Smart Start partnership in Forsyth County and then for 14 years as the board chair of the N.C. Partnership for Children, the organization that leads Smart Start.

The Thrift award is given annually to honor a current or past Smart Start local partnership board chair who embodies Thrift’s dedication.

The Randolph County Partnership for Children is the local affiliate for Smart Start, North Carolina’s nationally recognized initiative to ensure every child enters school healthy and ready to succeed in a global community.

Local representatives as well as ones from throughout North Carolina and several other states, including Arizona, California, Ohio, Michigan and Alabama, were at the National Smart Start event held Monday through Thursday at the Koury Center.